Research - Noise Pollution

Gaurav Nilakantan

Research—

Undergraduate work I

NOISE POLLUTION is a grave concern to human health and mental well being. With dire consequences ranging from hypertension to hearing loss to nervous disorders, the urgent need of the hour is to ascertain noise levels at identified hot spots in a city and if found to be above the allowed limit as prescribed, noise-reducing and sound-proofing solutions need to be sought after.

This project aims at measuring noise levels at busy junctions in the city of Bangalore, the capital of the southern state of Karnataka in India. A CEL Sound Level Analyzer is used to make the recordings while the powerful sound analysis software SOUNDPLAN is used to analyze the data and model the city. Noise recordings are also taken of many individual vehicles to determine the prevalent noise levels and thus extent of Noise Pollution. On this basis, recommendations and suggestions to restore normalcy will be provided, and this will be brought to the attention of the media and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board who can then implement the necessary corrective action to help tackle this hazardous problem.

This project report was featured in the supplement Bangalore Times of the national daily The Times of India. I wish to thank the Directors of Foretek Marketing Pvt. Ltd., Mr. A. Jayanth and Mr. Raghavendra Rao; the Support Engineers, Mr. Govardhan Giri and Mr. Srikanta, A. S.; the Application Engineers Mr. Krishna Prasad B. G. and Mr. Dinesh V.; my Project Advisor from the P.E.S. Institute of Technology Prof. K. Raghavan; the Traffic Police A.S.I. Mr. B. N. Indi, A.S.I., Ulsoor Police Station; and my colleagues Mr. Sachin Grover and Mr. Ganesh Gautham.